John McArdle reports on a White House briefing where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Vice President JD Vance leads a negotiating team to Pakistan for fragile truce talks, while Vance claims military objectives are met despite President Trump dismissing agreement details as fraud. Viewer reactions diverge sharply: Dr. William Knight questions CIA history, Nancy condemns the alliance as a new Axis of Evil, and Robert defends Trump's unilateral action against Democrats, illustrating deep polarization over the ceasefire's legitimacy and future consequences. [Automatically generated summary]
It's something the President has discussed, and I think it's something the President will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Ruta.
And perhaps you'll hear directly from the President following that meeting later this afternoon.
The White House saying that the President is dispatching his negotiating team led by JD Vance, his vice president, Steve Wickoff, his U.S. Special Envoy, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
There was plenty to talk about today in the wake of that two-week ceasefire agreement announced last night.
Caroline Levitt, they're going for a little over half an hour with reporters taking mostly questions back and forth after a brief opening statement.
We want to hear from you your thoughts on the latest on the ceasefire with Iran, the latest on those comments from the White House briefing room.
There's been plenty of reaction today we've been bringing to you on the C-SPAN networks.
Let us know what you think on phone lines, split as usual.
Republicans, it's 202-748-8001.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
Independents, 202-748-8002.
Some other news today.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, announcing that he will be forcing a war powers vote in the Senate next week.
C-SPAN's Craig Kaplan quoting Chuck Schumer from his press conference from earlier today, saying Republicans will once again have the opportunity to join Democrats and end this reckless war of choice.
Three other attempts to advance the Iran war powers resolution in the Senate were blocked mainly along party lines.
And so we'll see what happens next week.
Again, give us a call.
I want to hear from you in terms of other advancements in this story today.
The vice president, we noted, is headed to Pakistan for those negotiations.
They're set to begin on Saturday today.
He was in Hungary.
He's been having meetings in that country.
And he was asked about the ceasefire much earlier today.
Here is JD Vance talking about what he called a fragile truce.
unidentified
I have the opportunity now to ask you about Iran.
There are latest developments, I think very positive developments during the night that we received that there is a ceasefire.
What can we do no more about the latest developments in the Middle East?
I was very up very late last night and talking about that.
Look, I do think there are good developments here.
And let me just say a few things.
First of all, what the President set out to do was decimate the Iranian military, decimate their ability to wage conventional war.
And that military objective, as the President said yesterday, as I said yesterday, has been achieved.
And because of that, what the President did is he basically issued an ultimatum to the Iranians.
He said, open up the straits, stop trying to hold the world's economy hostage, and we'll engage in a ceasefire.
And that's exactly the agreement that we came to last night.
The Iranians have agreed to open up the straits.
The United States has agreed to stop attacking.
And that, not just the United States, but also our allies, have agreed to stop attacking.
And that is the basis of this fragile truce that we have, which is now eight to 12 hours old.
Now, here's what I'll say about this.
I've learned a lot about the Iranian system and a lot about the way the Iranians negotiate.
Because the president told me last night the Iranians are better negotiators than they are fighters.
I'm sure they don't like to hear that, but it's true.
But here's a couple things.
So, one, just in the response that we've seen from various segments of Iran, you have on the one hand, people within Iran who have responded very favorably.
The foreign minister who said, look, we agreed to the United States' terms.
We'll do a ceasefire.
We'll do a negotiation.
We'll open the straits of Hormuz, and then we'll see if we can come to more agreement down the road.
So some of the people have responded favorably and have said the right things.
And then you have some people on social media within their system who are basically lying about what we've accomplished militarily.
They're lying about the nature of the agreement.
They're lying about the nature of the ceasefire.
And so you have just even within their system, and this is why I say this is a fragile truce, you have people who clearly want to come to the negotiating table and work with us to find a good deal.
And then you have people who are lying about even the fragile truce that we've already struck.
And that's just an interesting thing about their system.
And the final point that I'll say about this is the President of the United States has told me, and he's told the entire negotiating team, the Secretary of State, the Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, he said, go and work in good faith to come to an agreement.
That is what he has told us to do.
If the Iranians are willing in good faith to work with us, I think we can make an agreement.
If they're going to lie, if they're going to cheat, if they're going to try to prevent even the fragile truce that we've set up from taking place, then they're not going to be happy.
Because what the president has also shown is that we still have clear military, diplomatic, and maybe most importantly, we have extraordinary economic leverage.
So the president has told us not to use those tools.
He's told us to come to the negotiating table.
But if the Iranians don't do the exact same thing, they're going to find out that the President of the United States is not one to mess around.
He's impatient.
He's impatient to make progress.
He has told us to negotiate in good faith.
And I think if they negotiate in good faith, we will be able to find a deal.
But that's a big if, and ultimately, it's up to the Iranians how they negotiate.
Vice President JD Vance from earlier today, he was talking about the nature of agreements, the nature of the ceasefire.
President Trump taking to his truth social page to talk about reports about what is and isn't in the agreement.
This is what the president said just after noon, saying numerous agreements, lists, and letters are being sent out by people that have absolutely nothing to do with the USA-Iran negotiations.
In many cases, they are total fraudsters, charlatans, and worse.
The president is saying there's only one group of meaningful points that are acceptable to the United States, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these negotiations.
He goes on from there.
It's Vice President JD Vance who will be meeting behind closed doors starting on Saturday morning.
It is Steve Wickoff, the U.S. Special Envoy Jared Kushner, part of that team that will be participating in these negotiations in Pakistan.
We're taking your phone calls this afternoon, and we are waiting to see if President Trump will chat with reporters ahead or perhaps after his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Ruda.
That's happening, expected to happen at 3 p.m. today.
You heard Caroline Levitt in the White House briefing room say that one of the things that the president will at least be talking about or has contemplated is the idea of withdrawing from NATO and having that conversation with the Secretary General today here in D.C., the Secretary General met earlier today with Secretary of State Marco Rubio here in Washington, D.C., and is headed to the White House this afternoon.
A lot going on, and we're taking your phone calls about all of it here on C-SPAN this afternoon.
It's Oki in Ohio, David, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Independent.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Hello.
Yes, I'd just like to give my opinion.
Basically, I don't believe in killing.
But what the previous independent mentioned about them not forgetting, I believe, you know, a few years from now, let's say 10 years, they're going to have the means and they will, you know, they'll get back to us somehow.
So I think the prolost probable solution for this is let the U.S. continue with the bombing in Israel and have them, you know, get to a point where there's so much misery and desolation and desperation that the people of Iran will make a change.
And so by destroying their infrastructure, we will get to that.
Yes, I like to just say that all these people, Democrats, independents, they need to go on YouTube and see how Hitler said if she was president to bomb Iran.
Obama said the same thing.
Suck Schumer said the same thing.
Bush and all these people.
You know, so why are they getting on Trump?
Trump is just trying to do the right thing because he's, just like the gentleman before, when he said they bombed the barracks in Lebanon, that is sovereign land.
And they've been doing it for all these years.
You know, it just doesn't make sense.
And then even Clinton debombed Serbia, I think, 87 days or so straight without even asking Congress.
And the Democrats say anything?
No.
They just turned a blind eye.
Well, because Trump is doing it, because he has a spine, and all these Democrats don't have the spine at all.
Some of the reporting in the wake of that press conference that we just showed you.
This is Anne-Marie Hodern of Bloomberg writing about what Caroline Levitt had to say about ship traffic in the Straits of Hormuz, quoting her saying, We've seen an uptick of traffic in the strait today.
The reporting from Bloomberg, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, just three ships were observed leaving the region on Wednesday.
We'll see if those numbers increase as the day and evening moves on.
This is Jackie Livermore, California, Democrat.
Jackie, go ahead.
unidentified
Thank you so much, and thank you for the service that you do, allowing us to call in and speak our mind.
I think it's insane that Trump is talking about things from the 1970s.
It's like he's stuck in the 70s.
He's stuck on the Panama Canal.
He's stuck on things that were done back in the 70s.
And he went into this war, lured in by Israel.
And he's a sucker.
And he's doing a bad job.
This is not a ceasefire since Israel is still firing their rockets.
California Listener Calls President Insane00:01:34
unidentified
Thanks for taking my call.
And I watch these men all the time.
I think you're a great, I just think you're very outstanding in your reporting.
I disagree with Jackie in California.
I think she's the one that's crazy.
I think our president is doing absolutely wonderful.
He is a negotiator.
He is a businessman.
Ever since he started, he's doing a great job.
And they're just, they're scared of him.
That's what it is.
The Democrats are scared of him because they are not doing a good job.
They never have and they never will.
A lot of Democrats have left the party and gone over to independent or Republican.
Here in California, it's a chaotic, chaotic, horrible, horrible situation because it's being run by Democrats.
And I'm just telling you right now, he's the best president we've ever had, especially during this Iranian crisis.
I am 75 years old, and I've had to go through every single war except for the World War II.
And my father fought in the World War II, and I remember Truman dropping the H-bomb on Hiroshima, and that was the best thing he could have done, okay?
We'll keep taking your phone calls for about another 40, 45 minutes or so on phone lines for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents as you're calling in to give you a perspective on how this